March 09, 2008

Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration

The Mystic Aquarium, just off of Exit 90 on I-95 in Mystic, Connecticut is a great place to spend a day shooting if you're a frustrated photographer waiting for spring to bring some life back to the landscape. I'm not a big fan of zoos or aquariums (in fact, I hate most zoos for the miserable way that animals are treated), but the folks at Mystic have done a very nice job at creating an environment that is truly educational and seems to be considerate to its living residents (at least I hope that's true).

There are some great indoor displays, including a very beautifully designed and lit tidal pool recreation and some extraordinary sea life displays and aquariums. There is not a lot of light indoors and you're not allowed to use flash in most areas, but if you set a high ISO (I used ISO 1600 on my Nikon D70s) and haves steady hands (or a good IS system) you can still get fun shots. In fact, I used one of my indoor tidal pool shots in my new book Exposure Photo Workshop (Wiley, March 2008) and it reproduced beautifully. There are aslo some nice outdoor displays for beluga whales and another for South African Penguins (shown here); these are very accessible displays and if you have a 70-300mm zoom you'll be able to get close ups (and then some) of both the whales and the penguins. You can also go into the penguin house and shoot photos of them underwater through a thick plate glass (the lighting there is surprisingly bright).

The Mystic Aquarium is open daily except for Christmas and Thanksgiving and my advice is to call and ask when school groups won't be coming! I've been there when the kids on on field trips and it's a drag. Check out their visit page for lots more info.